The present invention relates to seat assembly apparatus and more particularly, to a seat cushion stuffer adapted to assemble covers on compressible foam seat cushions.
Seats for the automotive industry include compressible foam seat cushions and flexible covers. Because the covers fit rather tightly on the seat cushion, machine assistance is used to assembly and tightly fit the cover on the seat cushion. There are a number of known machines for installing the flexible covers on foam cushions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,393 is a bottom seat stuffer adapted to install flexible seat covers on bottom seat cushions. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,774,965 and 4,385,427 disclose upper seat cushion (for the backrest) stuffers or skinners adapted to install flexible seat covers on upper seat cushions to provide for the backrest of a seat. There are also machines to install the flexible cover on the neck rest cushion as well.
Heretofore, each of these machines and other similar machines have not done a satisfactory job installing the seat covers on the foam cushions, as will be particularly appreciated by those skilled in the art when viewing the present invention. In particular, due in part to the contours and curvature of the seat cushions, it is often necessary for the worker to correct the alignment of the seat cover on the seat cushion after the machine has already performed the stuffing or skinning operation. This results in worker fatigue and therefore a less efficient worker as fewer seats per hour can be assembled. These machines have also been known to damage or rip the seat covers at an undesirable frequency.
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a machine that achieves a better fit of a seat cover on a foam seat cushion for automotive industry applications.
In that regard, it is another objective of the present invention to provide a highly reliable machine that is user friendly and minimizes worker fatigue.
In accordance with these and other objectives the present invention provides a seat assembly machine that uses stanchion rods to install flexible covers on seat cushions characterized by the fact that the stanchion rods are slidably mounted in an axis generally perpendicular to the stuffing or plunging axis such that the stanchion rods more closely follow the contour of the seat cushion. The present invention can be applied to either bottom seat cushion stuffers, back rest stuffers or neck cushion stuffers as desired. In the preferred embodiment a cam mechanism and/or a spring mechanism (either in combination or alone) controls sliding movement of the stanchion rods. The cam mechanism includes a cam track having an eccentric substantially matched closely to the contour of the intended seat cushion and a follower adapted to follow the eccentric. It is an advantage the seat covers can be more properly installed on the seat cushion.
Other object and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.